Gas lighter



Jan 6, 1931., I J E 1,757,530

GAS LIGHTER Filed Oct. 6, 1928 3 4x00 7 VENTOR,

ATTORNEYS proved gas lighter;

Patented Jan. 6, 1931 STATES PATENT rice HOMER w. JONES, or NEWARK, NEWJERSEY, ASS'IGNOR To OXWELD AC'ETYLENE coir:-

PAINY, A CORPORATION or wnsrr VIRGINIA GAS LIGHTER ApplicationfiledOctober e, 1928. s

This invention pertains to gas lighters and more specifically to animproved and simpli mechanism shownin the accompanying draw-' ing, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my im- Figure 2 is a side elevation ofthe same; Figure 3 is a plan or top view of the same; Figure 4 is atransverse section along the line of Figure 1 looking in the directionof the arrows; and

Figures 5 and 6 are front elevations of alternative gas lighteroperating keys. I,

The gas lighter shown in the drawing and embodying this invention iscomposed of a frame 10 having an integral backwardly extending clampadapted for attachment to a gas burncrand comprising arms 11 and 12 thatare formed to it the cylindrical body of a gas burner to which they maybe clamped by the bolt 18 passing through the free ends of the arms 11and 12.

The top of the frame 10' is bent forward forming a bracket 14; and aboutmidway of the frame 10 a tongue is cut out and bent forward forming abracket 15 similar to the bracket 14. Each of the brackets 14 and 15 3have an aperture therethrough near the outer end that forms a bearingfor a shaft 16 that passes through the brackets 14; and 15 in which theshaft 16 is adapted to rotate.

Firmly pressed upon and riveted to the upper end of the shaft 16 thatprotrudes through and extends upwardly from the bracket 14: is afriction wheel 17 of hardened steel. This wheel 17 may be made oftwo ormore disks or it may be a single piece of metal, and the periphery maybe simply characteristics of the gas lighter.

erial no. 310,380.

roughened although, preferably, it has a large 7 number of line teethout therein, Furthermore, the friction wheelmay be of hardened andtempered high carbon steel or of 'case hardened low carbon steel aseithermaterial s satisfactory.

Formed integral with the shaft 16 and p 0- sit-ioned so it lies justbelow the under side of the bracket 15 is a toothed wheel 18 Preferably,this wheel is formed with four teeth each having a face that rises moreabruptly than the back. Of course, the wheel18 may 16 and the number ofteeth may be either increased or decreased to vary the operating be madeseparately and pressedon the shaft 1 Formed integral with the bracket'14; is" a hollow cylindrical holder 19 that supports a cylindricalpiece of pyrophoric metal 20 opposite the face of the friction wheel 17.Formedintegral with the side of the frame 10 are'two ears 21 and 22.Each of: these cars is bent around and formed toa waved portion 23 .ofaspring23 thereby securing it to the frame 10 of the gas lighter so' itwill neither twist nor slide in the clamping ears. The spring 23 isformed from a single piece of metal spring wire that is bent so one endof the wire is clamped by and held'inthe overturned ear 22 from which itextends to approximately the center of the frame 10 in back ofthetoothe'd wheel 18 where it makes a right angle turn and extends ashort distance upward and then turns and extends back along a parallelcourse to the other overturned clamping ear 21 thereby forming aclosed'loop 24. From the other side of the overturned ear 211 the wirecontinues twice around a helical coil 25 and then upwardto the holder 19where the'free end 2 6 presses against the outer end of the pyrophoricmetal 20 and holds it firmly against the face of thefriction wheel 17. Aslot 27 'in theunder side of the holder 19 permits the end 26 ofthespring 23 to follow the pyrophoric metal 20 almost to the face of thefriction wheelv 17 as the pyrophoric metal 20 is worn away and shortenedby the abrading action of the V friction wheel 17 during the operationofthe gas lighter.

his

theaperture28 and the lower end is formed into a grip 31 adaptedfor-being grasped by aperson operating the gas lighter. The centralportion 32' of the key 29, between "the" 1 hook and the grip31,.isflattened so it is elastic or resilient and is adapted'to bend,

give, deform, or be torsionally deflected when thev-gasrlighter isoperated; The key29 may be: made. in different forms from that showninEigures land 21 For instance, the elastic portion .32 may be twistedsoit-is in the form of a spiral 33 as shown in Figure 5,.or the centralportion of the key may be made elasticiby bendingt'he wire into the formof a helix 34 as shownin Figure 6. Furthermore,

the-portion of the key 29 forming the grip 31.n1ay-be adifferent shapefrom that shown oritmay be made from a separate piece of met-alland-attached to the key.

The teeth in the toothed wheel 18 are. cut:

sothat when the gas lighter is operated: the

toothed wheel. 18 rotates backward like aratched wheel, :andithe.friction wheel- 17 is assembled on the shaft v16. sosthat when the.

gasilighter is operated the friction wheelrotates forward alikea millingcutter.

Ifa-it were not for the: retarding action of thesspring 23-.against thetoothed wheel-18 andzthez-elastiopoiition 32 oftheoperating key '29,"the frictionwheel 17.1would be rotated atrithe speed .ofn-the key 29during the op eration of :the. gas, lighter. But .igniters. constructedto :operate in :this' manner are unsatisfactoryihecause lit" isditficult for. an operator tozrotate-theifriction wheel fast'enoughtoec-ause-itto throw .an adequate shower of sparks. Therefore,theretardingmechanism andzthezelastic'fkey are incorporated with the:

gasflighter-so the friction wheel 17 is intermittently. retardedandrotates slower than the-sgrip of the-key 29 during a portion jofthezoperating movement and faster during another portion therebythrowing intermittentshowers ofsparks in-adequate quantities. W hen .at:rest the position of the rotating partsgofthe gas lighter :is usuallywith thev back sideof one of the teeth, such as 36,

ofithewheel 18in contact with the vertical portion 35 of the springloop24. The gas.

lighter is operated 'by grasping the grip 31 of the key 29- and giving 3When-the"toothed-wheel18 is madewith four of the gas'lighterabove the. 7;32 to lag behind thegrip 31 of the key 29 .When the central K, elasticportion 32 0f the key 29 has been tor- 'sionally deflected or bent to;the point where quate to ignite escaping gas.

it a partial turn or revolution and, viewed from above, the direction ofrotation is c.ounter-clockw1se.

turn or revolution necessary to operate the gas lighter is a quarterturn, but by varying the number of teeth on the wheel 18 the op Forinstance, with three operating movement will be one fifth of arevolution.

During the early portion of theoperating movement therotatingparts ofthe gas lighter above the elastic portion 32 of the key 29 are retardedby the force of the vertical portion 35 of the spring loop 24 againstthe back'of the tooth 36, so the elastic portion '32 of thekey- 29 bendsor is torsionally deflected thereby permitting therotating parts elasticportion belowthe elastic portion.

the rotative pressure exerted. by it on the rotating parts ofthe gaslighter is sufficient I toovercome the retarding effect of the springloop24-on the toothed wheel 18, the tooth36 forces the spring, loop 24back and passes under it thereby freeing the rotating parts,

of the gas lighter from the reta'rdingeifect of the spring loop-24andpermitting the tor.-

sionally defl'ectedelastic portion 32 of the key 29 to straightenandfrapidly rotate the rotating parts of the gas lighter above theelastic portion 32 for about .a. quarter of a revolution therebythrowing a shower of sparks from the pyrophoric metal 20 ade- After theoperating movement the rotating parts of the gas lightercome to restwith the back of the next toothagainstthe verticalportion 35 .ofthe'spring loop 24 from which position they may be forced throughanother operating movement by aquarter turn of the key 29. The spring 23is made so it exerts a much greater pressure onthetoothed wheel 18 thanit does on the pyrophoric metal 20 by being attached to the frame 10 sothe vertical porion 35 of the loop 24- exert-s'a pressure on the strandsof the spring wire and a pressure on the pyrophoric metal 20 oftheelastic force 7 of one strand of the spring wire. By this ingeniousconstruction thespring 23 is made from a single piece or. spring'wlre soit takes the place of two springs having widely different tensions. V V

The toothedwheel may be made with teeth rise more gradual. With theteeth of the wheel 18 formed as shown .in'the drawing, the

of a diiferent shape from those shown in the face of the teeth are sosteep that the rotating parts of the gas lighter cannot be rotated'in areverse direction Also,when the 'vertical portion of the spring loop 24falls from the top of a tooth such as 36 and rides down its face, ittends to rapidly accelerate. its rotation through a relatively smallarc. By altering the angle of the face of the teeth the rapidity ofaceleration and the length of the are through which the wheel is,accelerated may be Varied. For instance, by making the drop down theface of the teeth less abrupt, the length of the period of Vacceleration may be increased and the speed of acceleration may bedecreased. Furthermore, the acceleration may also be controlled bymoving the spring supports 21 and .22 either. nearer to or farther fromthe center of the toothed wheel 18.

' Various other chan es ma be made in the construction and arrangementof the compo nent parts of the gas lighter shown and described. hereinwithout departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any ofthe rights thereunder. I

I claim: '1. In a gas lighter, a friction wheel, a toothed wheelconnected to said friction wheel, means for holding a piece ofpyrophoric metal opposite the face of said friction wheel, means forrotating said friction.

wheel and said toothed wheel, and a spring having one portion thatpressessaid pyrophoric metal against said friction wheel and anotherportion that presses againstthe periphery of said toothed wheel.

2. In a gas lighter, a friction wheel, a toothed wheel connected to saidfriction wheel, means for holding a piece of pyrophoric metalopposite'the face of said friction wheel, means for rotating saidfriction wheel and said toothed wheel, and a spring formed from a singlepiece of wire so it presses said pyrophoric metal against said frictionwheel with the elastic force of one strand of said wire and so itpresses against saidtoothed wheel with the elastic force of two strandsof said wire.

3. In a gas lighter, a frame adapted for attachment to a gas burner, ashaft carried by said frame, a friction wheel carried by said shaft, atoothed wheel carried by said shaft, a piece of pyrophoric metal heldopposite the face of said friction wheel, means for manually rotatingsaid shaft, and a spring having one end and a central portion thereofattached to said frame and formed so it has a flexible end that pressessaid pyrophoric 'metal against said friction wheel and a flexible loopthat bears against saidv toothed wheel to intermittently retard therotation of said friction wheel.

4. In a gas lighter, the combination of a frame adapted for attachmentto a gas burner; a friction wheel; a shaft carrying burner; a shaftcarried by said frame; a friction wheel carriedby said shaft; a toothedwheel carried by said shaft; means for holding a piece of pyrophoricmetal opposite the face of said friction wheel; resilient means forrotating sald shaft; and unitary means for pressing said pyrophoricmetal against v said friction wheel and for exerting pressure on theperiphery of said toothed wheel to intermittently retard the rotation ofsaid friction wheel.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

' HOMER W. JONES.

